Flashback Friday (On Thursday) - Greece & Turkey

I know I am a day early with these pictures but I have Kate's 8 month post tomorrow. I promised a friend (Mrs. Tidwell) I would put these up this week so she could see the Greece pictures before her trip there. We had a blast in Greece. Growing up I heard stories about my mom's trip to Europe and how Greece and the Greek isles were her favorite so I knew I wanted to go one day. It didn't disappoint. It is beautiful. I don't think I can describe how beautiful it was. It was also so full of history. We loved thinking about how the men who wrote the Bible (inspired by God) had walked and preached in the very places we were. It was amazing!! Here are some pictures (sorry I had a hard time narrowing it down - there are so many more good ones).

This one is a little out of order but it is an important one. We found out while we were in Athens that we were expecting a baby - Ben!! How exciting is that. So we made a sign in Greek to tell our families.

Our first stop was in Olympia. It is the site of the first Olympics. Here is the site of the Olympic flame that they light every 4 years.
Entrance to the stadium
Ancient wonder - Zeus' temple. We saw a total of 3 the sites of the ancient wonders of the world on the trip.

We stayed in this small town - Tolon on the Aegean Sea. It was so funny because it reminded us of Panama City Florida with the touristy shops and such. We did get to go swimming in the Aegean Sea.

We stopped for lunch in Corinth and saw the Corinth canal.

Then it was on to Athens. So many amazing things to see!!

Of course the Parthenon

Athens was an amazing city to me because one minute you are standing on ancient ruins and the next you are in the middle of a major modern city. It was so neat. This is the site, Mars Hill, where Paul preached his sermon about the "unknown God."

We then got to take a 4 day cruise through the Greek islands. I highly recommend it! Our first stop was an evening in Mykonos. Oh my goodness was it beautiful.

We spent the evening sitting on a hillside beside the windmills watching the sun set. It was probably the most amazing night we have spent together!!

Then it was on to Rhodes. Legend has it that Paul was shipwrecked right here.

On of the most beautiful islands we went to was Patmos. It is most famous for being the place where John was held in exile. We got to tour the place where he had his "Revelation." It is a cave underground but it is used as a Greek Orthodox church today. We were there on a Sunday so we got to tour it during their church service.

So this was our cruise ship. Funny story - the boat is now on the bottom of ocean. It sank about 6 months after we were on it. Hit a rock off Patmos and sank.

Another funny story - The people on the cruise just assumed we were on our honeymoon since we were young and by ourselves so one night they came out and sang to us and brought us this cake. We won't mention the fact that I am pregnant and we had been married for 3 years at this point.

Our final stop was in Ephesus in Turkey. Talk about amazing. It was so cool! We walked the streets where Paul did! It is one of the most intact ancient cities you will find.

The amazing library of Ephesus!

Now that you are bored to death with all the pictures you can get back to regular life! I just had to share.